Just spreading a little happiness

Enjoy!!!

A little of this, A little of that

I have been silent for a while and I need to break that silence, but all the thoughts I have had for blog fodder are all jumbled up so I am liable to be flitting around from topic to topic.  Grab yourself some caffeine and try to keep up!

Have you read about the gay penguin couple?  Here is the latest update on them:




"After six years of lovingly building a nest together each spring, a pair of male Gentoo penguins named Inca and Rayas finally have an egg to keep in it. According to their keepers at Madrid's Faunia Park, the two are inseparable and have taken to parenting like, well, penguins to water. Inca has adopted the female role of incubating the egg, while partner Rayas watches over his buddy and the little one. Their keepers hope that the donated egg -- and the bub that hatches out of it -- will boost the pair's spirits. In past years, they apparently became rather blue during spring when surrounded by all their friends' newborns."

Awwwww.  What a sweet story.

Did you watch the DWTS finale?  I had no hopes that this season would be as good as it was.  It really was great to watch.  The final 4 were all so good that there was no reason to be disappointed no matter who won.

Speaking of finales, all the shows are having their season finales this past month and none more important to watch than Monday night's airing of the SERIES FINALE of House.  The whole series is over.  No more cranky pants House.  No more weird diseases to be discovered and cured.  No more co-workers to kill off.  It was really good and stayed true to the character of the show.  I hate it when they come up with some cutesy ending that fails miserably to resolve anything.

Oh!  I found a new favorite blog!  My absolute favorite blogger in the world is Martha Payne.

Have you heard of Martha?  No?

Well, she is a 9 year old girl who lives in Scotland.  And just the most clever thing around.  I wish I had been that smart at 9.  She was becoming disillusioned about the school lunches and she now writes a blog about it.  She posts a photo of it and rates it on taste, nutrition, how many mouthfuls she actually gets (these photos of her lunches have shocked me by how small they are) and also by whether or not she finds a hair in them.

This is an eye-opening experiment.  She asked for kids around the world to send in pictures of their own school lunches (or made at home and brought to school) to her for comparison.  And yes, her dad is helping her by tweeting about this.  And yes, Jamie Oliver is aware of this and encouraging her. He needs to get his gorgeous Naked Chef self up to Scotland and do something with their school lunches. Those meals have negligable protein, few vegetables, little or no fruit.  Mostly carbs, bread, potatoes, pasta and the like.  So go read Martha and send her some encouragement.

And on a completely different train of thought, in the paper this Sunday, right on the front page was an article titled "Despite changes, more kids are dying"

Seems that our county has taken the lead in Texas for most child deaths involving parents from abuse and/or neglect.  Lovely.  Our county has had 20 child deaths in the last fiscal year.  We also had the most confirmed cases of abused and neglected children in the state, 5,915 which is more than the 5,493 for Houston which has nearly three times as many children as our city.  More deaths with 1/3 the total number of children.  Doesn't that make your stomach turn?

The article goes on for another full page of facts, details, information, etc. And it ends with a half page listing each of the 20 children who were killed and the pertinent facts of each of their cases.  It made this very personal and real to see their little names, ages, cause of death and what criminal case or charges have been filed, that kind of outcome.  I think these little ones deserve to be honored in this way and create some awareness and hopefully get more people to step up and volunteer to help.

Do any of you remember last July when I posted this??  This little angel boy was the last one listed on this page of 20.  I had periodically checked the news online to see if anything had ever come of the father of this child admitting to hurting and ultimately killing this baby and never could find anything. So I read the little bit they had listed Sunday on this baby. And I am going to go ahead and type what is there since it is the newspaper I can assume there is no expectation of privacy.  Here's what is said:

Kaleb Alexander Janosik

Age: 22 days

Date of death: July 24, 2011

Died of head injuries.

Father admitting to striking and biting the child.

Mother and father were found "reason to believe" for physical abuse.

Justin Janosik (father) pleaded guilty to murder, received a life sentence.

My heart just breaks for all 20 of these shameful deaths.  One thing I looked at is that 11 of the 20 had previously been investigated by CPS so someone already knew there was a problem in the home.  I don't know the answer to this horrific problem but I do know that I try my hardest to make sure my work with each of my clients helps them to fall in love with their children and to know there are resources for when they are overwhelmed and feel helpless.

If you feel so moved to help with abused and neglected children, consider becoming a CASA  advocate. Or check with your CPS office and see what it takes to become a foster family for children in need.  Some of our local high schools have nurseries for the babies while moms attend school and they need volunteers there to work with the babies.  You can teach parenting classes. There are many ways you can get involved and make a difference in a child's life.  Please make the effort.  Don't just sit back and read about the tragedies being perpetrated on these young lives and do nothing. It really does take a village.

Book Review

If I were to write a book review on the craptastic "Fifty Shades of Grey", this would be it.

Please, pop over and check this out.  Save yourself the time and aggravation of actually reading this drivel.

Or go watch Ellen read from it.

Both of these are better than the book.

Priorities?

I was online looking at the headlines for local news.
And if you are like me you might think (and even assume) that these story headlines would be given in order of importance.  Much like being above the fold or below, or being on the front page versus inside in the second section.

Here is what I saw:

• FORECAST: Cold front approaching, storm threat tonight
• POLL: Do you approve of gift registries for high school graduation?
• Girl shot in face

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Really?  Girl shot in face doesn't rate as high as gift registry poll?

We need some standards, people!

Reading of the O'bits, yet again

The reading of the obits by Lisa Pie and Patty Cakes was good yesterday.  Lots of really old people, as it should be.  Just a few young ones, including a pair of brothers killed in a car accident.

Here are the highlights of what was written:

The two brothers that were killed were 25 and 21.  Such a tragedy.  And get this, the older one had 10 months previously donated a kidney to his aunt.  Can you believe that?

There were some great names listed this time.  Here are a smattering of them:

Not one but 2 Clarences from different family.
Vada Mildred, who was married to William Bythel
Noemi a.k.a. Minnie
Herman Hetzfelder
Myrtle Bohl Hitzfelder
Lera Hunzeker
Melton Barton K.
Frank Felix
Esther Merle
Eduardo M. known as Wally to his family and friends, The Gator to his grandchildren and G-Pa to his great-grandchildren.
Jenetha
Mary Kay
Claudette
Willie Mae
Gombert
Milton Kermit
Leola Evelyn




Top Honors goes to this short but very sweet rememberance:

Ireland (Sonny) Sapp born December 22, 1945 was called home to be an angel on the dance floors on April 29.

And now I have a couple of complaints.  You know, things that get under your skin after the first 25 times of seeing it.  It is becoming more and more common for people to describe their dearly departed in this manner "Morris, loving son, brother, cousin, nephew, husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and friend".

I can't even tell you how many people tacked on the "and friend" part to their loved one's legacy.  Seems unnecessary to me.  Every single person describes their recently deceased as friendly, kind, never met a stranger, etc, so it just seems superfluous to add "and friend" to all those other family titles.

Lastly, I know people think it is cute and clever to come up with interesting names and even more interesting spellings for their children.  Like it will individualize them from all the other children their same age with many variations on the spelling or pronunciation of the same flipping name.

How about just coming up with a cool old-fashioned name?  Wouldn't a better way for your child to be distinguished from all the other Ashley, Ashlee, Ashleighs in her class if her name were not Aschlii but Claire?  or Grace?  or any other name?

This week in the not-so-cute spelling of the newest generation of names we find Ashlee and Brandee who are sisters.  There were 2 different families that had Kristofers.  There were an Adelyn and a Madeliene in the same family.  And there was a Maddyson, a Jazmin, Candyce, Gizelle, Daizy, and finally a Jessenia.

Saddling your kid with a moniker that they have to explain and spell to every. single. person. they meet for the next 90 years doesn't seem like a gift.  Just my humble opinion.

Godspeed to all the newly departed and I hope their families can find comfort in their grief.

p.s. Kelly Pie just posted the most wonderful obituary on her facebook page. I am updating to give you the link.  Now THIS is a fantastic send-off!!!

Thanks Kelly Pie for sharing!!

Deserted Island Questionnaire

You’re on a deserted island, with no sign of rescue. You can have 10 things with you on the island. You just have to choose from this list.  What will keep you company under the long, hot days in the sun? (my choices in bold):

1. Chocolate or Potato Chips?  Chips, Chips,  Chips.
2. Fiction or Non-Fiction?  Fiction.  
3. The Lord of the Rings or The Godfather movies?  I would love to say Godfather, but have you seen the NZ scenery in TLOTR series?  I might want to see that more often than the horse head in the bed. 
4. Cameron Diaz or Jennifer Aniston?  I think probably Jen.  Cameron might get annoying after a bit.
5. 70′s or 80′s music?  70s, hands down.  The 80s were a fucking low patch.
6. Jon Stewart or Daniel Craig?  Jon Stewart FTW!!
7. Friday Night Lights or Downton Abbey?  I'm a Texan, gotta go with FNL
8. Beer or Wine?  Wine, then I don't have to worry about it staying cold or going flat.
9. Pizza or Hamburgers? Both?
10. The Rolling Stones or the Beatles?  All Beatles, all the time.

What say you??